Fellowship Of Friends/Fourth Way School/Living Presence Discussion – Page 188 May 10, 2020
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Fellowship of Friends - Living Presence Discussion 
“…he is actually testing people’s loyalty to the ‘laws’ of his mind over the laws of nature, or even impulse for survival. The more he abuses them, the greater their devotion grows, since the psychological cost of admitting their mistake is ever higher — and so it becomes easier to dig a well of unreality than to see the obvious truth..
~Dr Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist at the Yale School of Medicine on testing loyalty in the cult of trump.
Mental symptoms do not discriminate between levels of intelligence. What we are seeing is what mental health experts warned would happen if we left a severely impaired person in an influential position without treatment, and what others have described as a cult.
But what I find most insidious is the contagion of symptoms: prolonged exposure…causes you to “catch” his worldview, and even the healthiest, soundest people turn “crazy,” as if afflicted with the same condition.
This is a known phenomenon I have encountered a great deal from working in underserved settings. It is interchangeably called “shared psychosis,” “folie à plusieurs” or “induced delusional disorder.” The cure is removal. Then, quite dramatically, an entire afflicted family, street gang or prison cell-block that seemed almost “possessed” returns to normal.
When experts call out abnormal signs, it is not a diagnosis but important information…It is not up to mental health experts to say how it is to be done, but it is our responsibility to say what must be done, based on our best assessment. Our prescription is removal.
~Dr Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist at the Yale School of Medicine
As mentioned in:
187/82. Golden Veil – April 23, 2020
“A new film of interest
The documentary Spaceship Earth tells the story of John Allen’s projects from co-founding the Theater of All Possibilities (the San Francisco group apparently later taken over by Alex Horn), leading his group in building the Vajra, a 55 room hotel in Katmandu, building and sailing the amazing Heraclitus Research Ship, to founding the Synergia Ranch in New Mexico and conceiving of and building the unprecedented self-contained Biosphere2, now owned by the University of Arizona.”
And
187/99. Cult Survivor – May 9, 2020
“The documentary mentioned by Golden Veil on Post # [8]2 is now showing on Hulu”
Here is a trailer:
(see: 1) mentions of cult and
2) enneagram that appears at ~1:35 into the 2:13 long clip.)
Spaceship Earth
Pub: May 7, 2020
For once I agree with Bruce on the previous page, even though he’ll predictably attack me for it lol.
You always had the option to say ‘no’.
It’s not like RB is a powerful brute that could rape you.
(Thankfully I never got put in that position, but I hope I would have said ‘no’, and run away like a lot did.)
Most WOMEN have probably been in the same predicament, having been seduced with lies, dreams and promises, had sex and then been treated like shit, because it turns out all the guy wanted was sex. For the ‘prey’, it’s always a decision about what you’re going to GET out of giving sex to someone.
Women are used to it, it’s just part of life.
Unfortunately it’s a big stigma for straight guys to get their ass busted.
So get over it guys.
If 90% of women can, you can too.
——–
19. brucelevy – April 5, 2020
What the queen Robert Earl Burton all his life wanted was to suck straight cock and be worshiped by the morons who he attracted like flies on shit. And we gave it to him.
20. Cult Survivor – April 5, 2020
19. brucelevy
We didn’t give it to him, he took it from us. We are lucky that all he wanted was sex, money and adoration and not our lives, like many other leaders of destructive cults. We are fortunate to be here to tell the story.
21. Insider – April 5, 2020
19/20.
We believed in Burton’s bullshit: becoming “conscious beings,” going to “Paradise,” being watched over by angels. We believed it, because we wanted to believe it, not because Burton forced us to. Did not our vanity mesh almost perfectly with Burton’s?
22. brucelevy – April 5, 2020
20. Cult Survivor
We fucking gave it to him willfully.
23. brucelevy – April 5, 2020
20. Cult Survivor
If you want to bullshit yourself be my guest.
https://newrepublic.com/article/152638/escape-trump-cult
4. Vinnie The Fish
If a woman has sex with a man because of false promises is she “giving it to him willfully”? What about the hundreds (thousands?) of men from Russia, Romania, Brazil, etc. that had sex with Burton over the last three decades? Did they “give it to him willfully”?
It’s important to take into account that saying no to Burton’s advances would mean for those men to go back to their countries and lose their status, clothes, green cards, etc., similarly to those young women from Third World countries that meet an older man from a First World country online, move to his country and marry him to improve the quality of their lives. Most of them probably find sex with their new husbands disgusting but they do it because they don’t want to lose their status, clothes, green cards, etc.
In summary, from one point of view “Robert’s boys” (as they are called in the FOF) are “giving to him willfully”, from another point of view they are being abused — it all depends how you look at it.
6. Cult Survivor
I never said they weren’t being “abused”. I’m saying they submitted without a gun to their head. In reality we could have said no. I said no after a week. And then I moved out of the Boy Cottage and resumed sleeping under the dining tables at the lodge.
7. brucelevy
As far as I know you’re not originally from a Third World country and saying no to Burton didn’t result in a loss of status, clothes or a green card (please correct me if I’m wrong). In my opinion your case was abuse and the case of the boys from Third World countries is exploitation.
Perhaps some definition of terms are in good order here as there may be some misuse in this discussion:
willfully:
adverb
1. with the intention of causing harm; deliberately.
[This #1 is sometimes used legally, essentially meaning that a harmful act was premeditated – done on purpose.]
2. with a stubborn and determined intention to do as one wants, regardless of the consequences.
[This #2 is how a Lunar Type often responds when they are asked to do something. They are willful, as in chief feature of willfulness – reluctant.]
willingly
adverb
1. readily; of one’s own free will.
Thanks AP for the clarification.
When I used the word “willfully” before I meant “deliberately”, not “with a stubborn intention.” I guess “willingly” would be a more appropriate term.
“Willfully” vs willingly…great example of how cult speak is insidiously embedded in the mind.
Hmm, a man who claims to speak for “90% of women” sounds pretty fishy to me.
Gee, I wonder if burton tells the wives and girlfriends whose husbands and boyfriends are being sexually exploited to “just get over it”, too?
And speaking of metaphors, if a follower truly believes that leaving the cult is tantamount to a death sentence, isn’t that the equivalent to “holding a gun to your head”?
11. WhaleRider
And speaking of metaphors, if a follower truly believes that leaving the cult is tantamount to a death sentence, isn’t that the equivalent to “holding a gun to your head”?
Yes, literally. In the case of the Third World boys for them it was not so much about leaving the cult and going to “the end of the Ray of Creation” (death sentence) but going back to their countries (prison sentence). At any rate, they were (are?) not having sex willingly, that’s for sure.
Here’s a take on bobby burton’s imaginary friend, Leonardo: Tulpamancy
Tulpa is a concept in mysticism and the paranormal of a being or object which is created through spiritual or mental powers. It was adapted by 20th-century theosophists from Tibetan sprul-pa (Tibetan: སྤྲུལ་པ་, Wylie: sprulpa) which means “emanation” or “manifestation”. Modern practitioners use the term to refer to a type of willed imaginary friend which practitioners consider to be sentient and relatively autonomous.”
~Wikipedia
Here’s how a person creates one in their head:
In my post 187-6 (previous page), I wrote these words:
“Not to mention, there are so many antique clocks and chandeliers around the world he does not yet own. Can’t start a New Civilization© without ’em, yet where is he going to find the money to purchase them all, since the word ‘enough’ is not in his mentation? Maybe he can apply to Trump for a bailout; after all, the rest of the 1% have got their $$, and there are trillions more wherever they came from!”
Well, it turns out that the PPP (Paycheck Protection Program), was/is actually open to churches. More information here:https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/06/828462517/another-break-from-the-past-government-will-help-churches-pay-pastor-salaries
Quoting the NPR article: The new SBA program, however, takes federal funding of religious institutions significantly further. Under the new Paycheck Protection Program, businesses with fewer than 500 employees, including faith-based organizations, are eligible to receive loans of up to $10 million, with at least 75% of the money going to cover payroll costs. The loans are in large part forgivable, so churches and other houses of worship won’t have to worry about paying all the money back.
So, in an amazing act of chutzpah, Burton and the Fellowship of Friends did apply for Covid–19 bailout money, and actually got $200,000, which Burton is already spending as if his life depended on it. What story was spun to justify applying for the money, I have no idea, but I can imagine that what ordinary folks would label lies of commission or omission, were told. The enterprise is rotten to the core, so how could it be otherwise?
Anyway, according to my source, there’s quite a bit of external activity going on right now on the property. Major landscaping changes at the front entrance to the Galleria. Walking paths installed between the Galleria and the Theatron. Roads torn up. One project after another. Though maybe, perhaps, some portion is being spent according to the terms of the grant, on salaries through April and May.
One person tried to drive around to see what was going on, and reported that the number of construction vehicles, and all the dust, made it impossible to drive anywhere.
Clearly, Burton is having a great time consciously directing all this activity, just like the good old days.
I would think it safe to assume that keeping the parallel book–keeping systems up–to–date is important—the second set of books ready for any possible enquiries by the IRS, also just like the good old days. So, there are a couple of jobs at least that are safe for the time being! Of course, members of the Board are probably nervously expecting/hoping that they will get away with their usual abdication of oversight/responsibilities once again …
RB also continues to micro–manage of the lives of his followers in other ways. For example, he has ‘advised’ the flock to coordinate 3 walks per day at Apollo; at 8:30am, 4:30pm and 8:00 pm. People are to gather somewhere in order to walk together, but with appropriate distancing.
Burton, however, cannot possibly be maintaining social distancing or the ban on gathering of more than ten people as guests at the elaborate fund–raising dinners he has been hosting for the last ten days or so. Not to mention the servers, who in turn are in constant contact with the cooks and support staff. That’s the great thing about being The Exceptional One™, the Brightest Light in Two Thousand Years™, no laws or regulations, or even plain common sense, apply.
And yes, there are reports of Burton urgently lusting after yet more antiques …
Turns out this Supernova of All Conscious Beings™ is as mechanical and predictable as the sunrise… Whodathunk?
14. amesgilbert1
Thank you for the update. Nothing new at the Apollo Retirement Community – business as usual.
Burton is asking people to walk because he wants people to remember they are in a community and for them to exercise (most residents are in the 60’s or 70’s).
The major landscaping projects look like another demonstration of Burton’s lunatic feature, like the palms and the camels.
What can we expect for the future? Since according to a FOF board member 80% of the income of the FOF comes from Burton’s “teaching events”, when Burton kicks the bucket (or becomes incapable of “teaching”) it’s game over. Meanwhile we will have the pleasure of witnessing a colorful display of dementia, such as “California may fall during this event, does everybody know where the exits are?”
Enjoy the show.
Here’s a funny thing. This sponsored (I guess that means they paid facebook to place it) post appeared just now on my facebook timeline. Some drippy nonsense about presence floating above the lower self like steam. I gave it the laughing face emoticon, and called out the fact that Girard Haven serves Burton in a sex cult. (The facebook AI has detected I am the sort to like this sort of drivel, which is slightly worrying.) 🙂
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPiBmYHpT-wl1lU0TvSGJ4hFCOIquX1RtZ8mRI6
The originating organisation calls itself “The Prize is Eternity”
Maybe for the benefit of internet explorers (or for posterity) “cult survivor” could translate what you mean by “lunatic feature” into contemporary, non-exclusive, non-cult language…just on the off chance a person arriving here for the first time might be unable to interpret cult speak?
I would wager that just mentioning burton’s landscaping projects and camel collection in relation to “lunacy” might not make sense to an outsider…I may be wrong, but the well-ordered gardens probably don’t appear insane and people in California have llamas, why not camels?
And I wonder, has anyone ever inquired how a person who describes himself or herself as a “lunar body-type” might feel about using terms like “lunatic”, and “lunacy” especially when by comparison there aren’t any other so-called “features” that make reference to other “body-types”?
Asking for a friend 🙂
This may not be what
188/17. WhakeRider – May 17, 2020
was asking for but may help.
Here is something that might help readers understand some terms:
From: Chapter 7, The Fourth Way, P. D. Ouspensky:
Householder, tramp and lunatic — Hasnamuss:
“A question was asked about who is able to come up to this staircase, climb it and reach the Way. Mr Gurdjieff answered by using a Russian word which can be translated as ‘Householder.’ In Indian and Buddhist literature this is a very well-defined type of man and type of life which can bring one to change of being. ‘Snataka’ or ‘Householder’ simply means a man who leads an ordinary life. Such a man can have doubts about the value of ordinary things; he can have dreams about possibilities of development; he can come to a school, either after a long life or at the beginning of life, and he can work in a school. Only from among such men come people who are able to climb the staircase and reach the Path.
Other people he divided into two categories: first, ‘tramps,’ and second, ‘lunatics.’ Tramps do not necessarily mean poor people; they may be rich and may still be ‘tramps’ in their attitude to life. And a ‘lunatic’ does not mean a man deprived of ordinary mind; he may be a statesman or a professor.
These two categories are no good for a school and will not be interested in it; tramps because they are not really interested in anything; lunatics because they have false values. So if they attempt to climb up the staircase they only fall down and break their necks.
First it is necessary to understand these three categories from the point of view of the possibility of changing being, possibility of school-work. This division means only one thing — that people are not in exactly the same position in relation to possibilities of work. There are people for whom the possibility of changing their being exists; there are many people for whom it is practically impossible, because they brought their being to such a state that there is no starting-point in them; and there are people belonging to yet a fourth category who, by different means, have already destroyed all possibility of changing their being. This division is not parallel to any other division. Belonging to one of the first three categories is not permanent and can be changed, but one can come to the work only from the first category, not from the second or the third; the fourth category excludes all possibilities. So, though people may be born with the same rights, so to speak, they lose their rights very easily.
When you understand these categories and find them in your own experience, among your acquaintances, in life, in literature, you will understand this fourth category of people. In ordinary conditions, in ordinary times, they are just criminals or actual lunatics — nothing more.
But in certain periods of history such people very often play a leading part; they may acquire power and become very important people But we must leave them for the moment and concentrate on the first three categories.
Q. Is this possibility of growth of being connected with willingness to obey certain laws and principles?
A. Not necessarily. There are different ways. On the monk’s way, for instance, you have to begin with obeying. There are other ways that do not begin with obeying but with studying and understanding General Laws you cannot disobey, because they make you obey. You can escape from some of them only through growth of being, not in any other way.
Q. Does it follow, then, that people who have connection with a school, however slight, belong to those who can change their being?
A. Certainly, if they are interested in school and are sincere in their attitude towards school, it shows that they belong to those who can. But you see, in each of us there are features of tramp and lunatic. It does not mean that if we are connected with a school we are already free from these features. They play a certain part in us, and in studying being we must detect them; we must know in which way they prevent our work, and we must struggle with them. This is impossible without a school. As I said before, tramps can be not only rich, they can be very well established in life and still be tramps. Lunatics can be very learned people and occupy a big position in life and still be lunatics.
Q. Is one of the features of a lunatic that he wants certain things out of proportion to other things, in such a way that it will be bad for him as a whole?
A. ‘Lunatic’ means a man who always runs after false values, who has no right discrimination. He is always formatory. Formatory thinking is always defective, and lunatics are particularly devoted to formatory thinking: that is their chief affection in one way or another. There are many different ways to be formatory.
Q. Is the tramp side in oneself a sort of irresponsibility that is prepared to throw everything overboard?
A, Quite right. Sometimes it can take very poetical forms: ‘There are no values in the world’—’Nothing is worth anything’—’Everything is relative’ — those are favourite phrases. But actually the tramp is not so dangerous. The lunatic is more dangerous, since it means false values and formatory thinking.
Q. What is it that determines which category a man belongs to?
A. A certain attitude to life, to people, and certain possibilities that one has. It is the same for all the three categories. The fourth category is separate. About this fourth category, I will give you just a few definitions. In the system this category has a special name, consisting of two Turkish words. It is ‘Hasnamuss.’ One of the first things about a ‘Hasnamuss’ is that he never hesitates to sacrifice people or to create an enormous amount of suffering, just for his own personal ambitions. How a ‘Hasnamuss’ is created is another question. It begins with formatory thinking, with being a tramp and a lunatic at the same time. Another definition of a ‘Hasnamuss’ is that he is crystallized in the wrong hydrogens. This category cannot interest you practically, because you have nothing to do with such people; but you meet with the results of their existence.
As I said, for us it is important to understand the second and third categories, because we can find in ourselves features of them both, especially the third. In order to struggle against the second, that is the tramp, school discipline and a general inner discipline are needed, because there is no discipline in a tramp. In a lunatic there may be a great deal of discipline, only of the wrong kind — all formatory. So struggle with formatory thinking is struggle against lunacy in ourselves, and the creation of discipline and self-discipline is struggle against the tramp in us.
As to the characteristics of a man in the first category, that is the householder — to begin with he is a practical man; he is not formatory; he must have a certain amount of discipline, otherwise he would not be what he is. So practical thinking and self-discipline are characteristics of the first category. Such a man has enough of these for ordinary life but not enough for work, so in the work these two characteristics must increase and grow. A householder is a normal man, and a normal man, given favourable conditions, has the possibility of development.”
We Tried Wine Made By A “Cult”
19. Tim Campion
Thanks. The vid was fun and funny. “How can you take a shower on the inside of your body?” one guy said, after drinking Renaissance wine while learning about Robert Burton and his “sexual energy.”Still, I wish at least one person might have known something about wine and/or that the people in the vid knew more about the pain and suffering endured by so many of its former members through Robert Burton, but you can’t always get what you want. The major note was a lighthearted casual survey. I enjoyed the comic relief, and on that level, Robert Burton and his followers need to see the vid, so they can see how much of the organization is just so inconsequential in the overall scheme of things. How little they and their acts matter.
21. Bruce Levy
Pretty funny.
Another one is: Lockdown Blues – Coronavirus song
Pandemic blues
gotta join in with the pandemic advice 🙂
Tony Alamo, Apocalyptic Ministry Leader Convicted of Sex Abuse, Dies at 82
[Obituary from The New York Times]
By The Associated Press
May 3, 2017
Tony Alamo, a onetime street preacher whose apocalyptic ministry grew into a multimillion-dollar network of businesses and property before he was convicted in Arkansas of sexually abusing girls he considered his wives, died on Tuesday in federal prison in North Carolina. He was 82.
The United States Bureau of Prisons said he died in a prison hospital in Butner, northeast of Durham.
Mr. Alamo was convicted in 2009 of taking girls across state lines for sex. One was a 9-year-old. A judge sentenced him to the maximum 175 years in prison.
Tony Alamo Christian Ministries attracted hippies and alienated youngsters when it started on the streets of Los Angeles in the 1960s before it became widely reviled for its leader’s actions and teachings.
Calling themselves “Jesus Freaks,” Mr. Alamo’s followers preached a wrathful version of Pentecostalism, which is known for its spirited worship practices and belief in modern-day revelation and miracles.
Mr. Alamo claimed to be unique among Christian preachers because he was born a Jew and had a “supernatural experience” through which he became a born-again Christian.
In the 1970s and ’80s, members of his ministry made elaborately designed denim jackets that were sold to celebrities, including Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and country music stars.
At its height, his ministry claimed thousands of members nationwide, drawn to Mr. Alamo’s virulent anti-Catholicism and apocalyptic speech, in which he claimed that God had authorized polygamy, professed that gay people were the tools of Satan, and believed that girls were fit for marriage. “Consent is puberty,” he told The Associated Press in 2008.
From a 300-acre compound in northwest Arkansas, Mr. Alamo presided over several businesses — including gas stations, a hog farm, a grocery store and a restaurant — that funded his ministry. Ultimately, the Internal Revenue Service claimed Mr. Alamo owed $7.9 million in taxes and federal agents raided his properties in 1991.
He was convicted of tax evasion and served four years in prison. After he left prison he started a new compound in the tiny southwest Arkansas town of Fouke, joined by about 100 followers.
State and federal agents raided the compound in September 2008 in an investigation of child abuse and pornography and charged him with sexual abuse.
Witnesses at the trial said Mr. Alamo had made all decisions for his followers: who got married; what children were taught in school; who got clothes; and who was allowed to eat. They said he began taking multiple wives in the early 1990s and increasingly younger ones thereafter, including a 15-year-old girl in 1994.
He was convicted after five women testified that they had been married to him in secret ceremonies when they were minors (one as an 8-year-old) and taken to places outside Arkansas for sex.
Former followers said Mr. Alamo had grown unhinged after his wife, Susan, died of cancer in 1982. Her body had been kept in a room at the northwest Arkansas compound, and his followers kept a vigil, praying for months for a resurrection. The body was eventually placed in a concrete crypt.
In 1991, Mr. Alamo ordered his followers to pack up before federal marshals seized the property to satisfy a court judgment. The authorities found Susan Alamo’s crypt smashed open and her coffin gone. Mr. Alamo returned his wife’s remains seven years later after being threatened with jail.
Mr. Alamo was born Bernie Lazar Hoffman on Sept. 20, 1934, to a Jewish family in Joplin, Mo. He arrived in Los Angeles in the 1960s claiming he was a music promoter. He and his wife legally changed their names to Tony and Susan Alamo after they married in Las Vegas in 1966.
Find more:
‘Ministry of Evil: The Twisted Cult of Tony Alamo’
Review: Hell on Earth
A documentary series tells the story of Tony and Susan Alamo, whose Alamo Christian Foundation depended on its members’ unshakable faith in the divinity of their leaders.
Two sisters return to The Farm where they were born. Formerly a commune, now an intentional community, The Farm was founded by Stephen Gaskin in 1970. The documentary has archival footage of Gaskin and his 300 followers leaving San Francisco in a caravan on 25 converted school buses. All took a vow of poverty, pooled all their money, and maintained a strict vegan diet. After a 7 month journey, they ended up in Summertown, TN where they purchased 1750 acres. They began a life together without the exchange of money and became farmers. The altruistic Gaskin was inspired by visions while on LSD and was revered by his followers . I recommend beginning the film at 15:40 in.
https://tubitv.com/movies/516210/american_commune
26. Golden Veil
Same bulls shit different mask.
California Cults: Yuba County’s Fellowship of Friends
http://thedeviationdiaries.blogspot.com/2019/01/california-cults-yuba-countys.html
28. I’ll never tell
The page doesn’t display correctly, it has some problem. At any rate, I was able to extract the text:
CALIFORNIA CULTS – YUBA COUNTY’S “FELLOWSHIP OF FRIENDS”
Posted by Anna Hill on January 07, 2019
-Oregon House
When we think of cults, we think of Jonestown, Waco, drinking cyanide-laced kool-aid, or waiting for the Hale-Bopp comment.
What we don’t think of, is the fact that these types of organizations happening in a place not far from us. They’re living amongst us, in our own county.
The Fellowship of Friends headquarters is located nearby in Oregon House. It’s nestled in the Yuba County foothills, on a 1300-acre plot of land they call Apollo. It’s said that around 600 of its members live there.
The church’s leader, Robert Earl Burton, has had charges brought against him for sexual abuse of young men. Those of which were settled out of court. Any small amount of research will give you plenty of information on FOF. I don’t think many would believe or even realize that these types of dangerous organizations, so prolific in nature, would be right at our back door.
Reading an article on California Cults, “Fellowship Of Friends” out of Oregon House in Yuba County comes in at #2.
There is quite the following of Ex FOF members determined to have them shut down.
According to one such website, “Robert Burton was an elementary school teacher who sought enlightenment through the Quakers and philosophy when he became enamored of the Fourth Way teachings of early 20th-century Russian mystics George Gurdjieff and Peter Ouspensky. The Fourth Way states that most human beings are spiritually asleep and can only regain true consciousness through a process of self-remembering and refraining from expressing negative emotions.
In 1970, Burton began to attract a group of followers, identifying himself as a “man No.5,” a being with a higher level of emotions and knowledge than most people. His group was incorporated in 1971 as a religious organization called the Fellowship of Friends. They purchased property in California’s Yuba County to establish a winery.
This property was home to many members of the church, although there were smaller centers across the US, Europe, and Latin America. The cult is supported by tithes from members as well as donations of fine artwork, which supposedly assist in the process of self-remembering.
Burton is known as “the Teacher” and has strict rules of behavior, including bans on swimming, joking, and smoking. In one 1981 interview, he was asked if he was Jesus Christ. Burton replied, “Thou sayest it,” which is what Jesus told Pontius Pilate when asked if he was King of the Jews.
Burton taught his followers that the community would serve as an ark protecting his flock from a cataclysm that would consume outsiders. He has claimed to be an angel in human form who communicates with 44 other angels, including Benjamin Franklin and Jesus Christ.
Despite banning homosexuality in the community until 1994, Burton sexually preyed on young male members of his flock. According to claims in a 1997 lawsuit: “Burton spoke openly about his sexuality in the form of jokes at all-male dinners. (…) He would boast that ‘100 boys would not be enough [for my sexual appetite].’ ”
The cult’s Renaissance winery and vineyards have produced award-winning wines. They were once served to Ronald Reagan and at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel’s restaurant in San Francisco. However, their religious history has made it difficult to promote these wines and has led to tax disputes with county officials.
In 2012, some cult locations were raided by the DEA on suspicions that cult members were selling marijuana and using the proceeds to help the church, which the Fellowship of Friends strongly denied.”
An expose on the organization: “Disillusioned former members say the fellowship is more than just another California curiosity. A growing number of them–as well as some academics — call it a cult that entraps its mostly well-educated members with a false promise of spiritual evolution. A recently ended lawsuit and accounts from ex-members echo that claim and add another: Burton, they say, has for years seduced young males in the group.
The suit and similar allegations by other members have spurred dozens to leave the group. It was brought by a Marin County man who claims Burton first demanded sex from him at age 17. Troy Buzbee, who had asked for $5 million in damages, charged that Burton brainwashes members into a state of “absolute submission,” allowing him to feed a “voracious appetite for sexual perversion.” (…)
There is a series called “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” from Survivors of The Fellowship of Friends.
“Ex-cult members talk about their experiences in the Fellowship of Friends aka Pathway to Presence aka Living Presence “church” in Northern California run by Robert E. Burton, ex-student of Alex Horn”
Anna Hill jumped the shark thinking that the use of “friends” had any connection to the Quakers, even though they have called themselves the Society of Friends.
Anna Hill did make a couple of mistakes but they could certainly be corrected. One is the claim that “They purchased property in California’s Yuba County to establish a winery.” I imagine that someone (not you, Someone) has already posted the below link to the Top Ten list that Hill references. Minor mistakes aside, I think that overall she wrote a very good article about the Fellowship of Friends!
https://listverse.com/2016/01/19/10-of-californias-craziest-cults/
No doubt, everyone is aware of the significance of today’s date. Six years ago on June 27, 2014, The Absolute paid His first noticeable visit to Apollo and Robert Burton. The following is a transcript from a meeting Burton led 800 days later, when She (having changed its gender) came a 2nd time, and when details of the visit were finally made public, including a never-before-seen photograph of Burton spontaneously taking a knee (actually 2 knees).
This is a photograph of me kneeling and bowing, kissing the ground
during the first visit of the Absolute. (https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C_5MYrGJYx0/V-szXhro2cI/AAAAAAAAF8g/0BddbeQqj6sHeIUvYTaAMD8ZuXC2TCoQQCLcB/s1600/RB%2BKissing%2BGround%2B06-14%2B-%2BCopy.jpg) It occurred right in the front of
the Gallery at the beginning of the rose arbor, after you walk
through the four cypress trees and turn left. Petrarch said, “I bless
the place, the time, and the hour of the day/that my eyes aimed
their sight at such a height.” Here we see that. Then we walked
straight ahead, beyond the path on the right, and our dog Apollo
was doing his business—number two—on the lawn. It was the third
state. Nicky [J*hns*n] was with Him. Nicky is now in drug rehab.
Afterwards Sasha and I went into the house. (Dorian came later.) He then did an act of humility for me. All I could think of was to get down and kiss Sasha’s feet as an act of humility too. Who are we that He
should do an act of humility for us? But that was the only response I
could think of. We are in the same Pavilion with Him right now.
Even in your ninth life, you will probably not receive this
exceedingly special experience. All I can do is speak for our
school. One reason that He is visiting us is because the first angel
visited us and we are at the end of the sequence of civilizations. We
are the thirty-third expression of schools in different galaxies.
32. Insider
A study in abject stupidity and gullibility.
The act of humility the absolut did to Robert was very likely a blowjob kind of thing. That is what Roberto does to his male ascending souls as and act of humility as well.
32. Insider
Thank you for the reminder. By the way, the “second visit of the Absolute” was in “female form”: according to Burton He appeared at the Apollo Gallery incarnated as a young Colombian woman that was married to an Italian FOF member (he used to own a restaurant in Grass Valley).
Interestingly, I know as a fact that that woman never understood what the FOF was about — she met that member on a dating site, moved to USA to marry him and lived with him at the restaurant. Eventually they split and she went back home.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
35. Cult Survivor
“an Italian FOF member (he used to own a restaurant in Grass Valley)”
If you mean Sergio, he still owns the restaurant and it is one of the best in Grass Valley.
36. brucelevy
No, I mean Gianfranco M. The restaurant was called Trattoria Milano and it was located at a Victorian house across the street from the Holiday Inn hotel.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/trattoria-milano-grass-valley
#32 Seeing things other people don’t see is already worrying.
The real problems start if you think the reason others can’t see them is because you are better than them.
The ‘absolute’ as a concept was coined by Hegel – I wonder if Burton knows that?
38. John Harmer
A few years ago at a meeting or dinner event, and as reported by an attendee to me, Robert claimed that “The Absolute” and Burton himself “crystallized” at the same time.
To slightly paraphrase the lyrics in a song from the musical “Oklahoma”, “He’s gone about as far as he can go.”
Just flashing back on a memory. In the mid 1970’s when I was staying at the “Boy Cottage”, There were,on average, 5 or 6 of us sleeping on the living room floor in sleeping bags, besides the asshole suckers in the nice bedrooms, like William Mucus, and at the time Diana and Call Werner. RB would come out in the morning and walk around the room, pick a victim, and give them a few light kicks with his foot. When the person woke up RB would curl his finger and indicate “Come with me.” I’m sure each of us had the same thought “Thank God it’s not me today.”
CULT LEADER REVEALS GENDER IDENTITY DISORDER…IN ABSOLUTE?
Bounce House, CA-Followers of a Northern Californian cult are awestruck at the startling revelation by their lord and master, Robert E Burton, that the Absolute, The All and The Everything, who has theoretically appeared twice to Burton, once in a female form and once in a male form…apparently is confused and cannot make up Its Great Mind about which sex It is or is not, insuring that followers remain even more deeply mystified about the true nature of reality than they already are, having spent decades in a close-minded cult with an authoritarian leader who claims to be “a 2,000 year old goddess housed in a man’s body”.
“Three’s a charm,” Burton, who is good with numbers, is reported to have said, “and I’ll bet the Farm next time the Absolute appears to me, It will be as a man, a young man, so I won’t have to kiss anymore feet. The Absolute knows what I like.”
Followers dutifully resisted thinking about the cosmological or psychiatric significance of Burton’s recent Absolute sightings and what it all means, but predictably whenever they hear the word “Absolute”, by an amazing stroke of thought-terminating genius, followers now have to contend with the image automatically popping into their head of the choice moment when they first laid eyes on the photo depicting their beloved kneeling teacher’s royal ass up in the air, artfully positioned to face the camera, supposedly documenting the blessed event.
Critics have long suggested Burton staged the photo, that it “reeked with intentionality”, and was later reportedly deployed as a method for indoctrinating his followers to associate “kissing” with his so prominently displayed “behind”…as if to say, “get behind me, Satan”…apparently code for the unspoken rule that only he, in his “highly evolved” state, is privileged to kiss the feet of the Absolute, presumably on your behalf…everybody else can kiss something else.
“His mundane descriptions of the Absolute sound pretty binary and unsophisticated to me,” said an ex-follower who wishes to remain anonymous, “…in an unsurprisingly anthropomorphic way. Your garden variety Brahmin guru in India or cashier at Whole Foods can do way better than that.”
I guess almost 25 years ago now, when I was a young student at Apollo- I think it was Apollo then, maybe it was still Renaissance. I house sat for about 3 weeks for a couple of older students. I don’t think I had many duties, maybe feed the cat. At the time I was living the life of a young student – I think living in a mobile home off of Rices crossing road, driving some beat up car, and busy busy busy -events, third line, serving, the arts, the harvest, busy and of course magical, the dinners, the events, the candlelight, the evening, the humor, the way that we had found the key to life and living, how lucky we were. Anyway I was really surprised that they asked me to house sit such a house- I did not know them well, I guess perhaps I had sat with them at lunch sometimes -they had seen my zeal in serving etc. I had arrived from a foreign country with a sum less than $400 in my pocket the year previously. In my country of origin, you generally did not invite people into your house unless they were family or you knew them and their father and their grandfather so that they might as well have been family. And anyway for most of the society I grew up and lived in, the concept of a foreign vacation was pretty foreign, vacation was a day trip to the beach, for which one did not seek house sitters. The house was really nice and I had a great time, so much nicer than a mobile, the kitchen amazing, the deck amazing, I had friends over for dinner. I enjoyed a master bedroom- what a concept. Nothing bad happened, I did my duties, kept it clean and tidy and they returned. Looking back 25 years or something later, I realize the house was a fairly middle class house. The house I live in now and own is larger and more fancy, although I hardly take notice of it and just consider my family quite average middle class. So where am I going with this? I suppose I started watching the Jeffrey Epstein filthy rich Netflix documentary. Those people were just so rich, so sleazy and so focused on targeting young poor vulnerable girls to satisfy their own desires. When you are poor from another country and you do not know the language, you do not have the context and social support, you are vulnerable to be groomed by a predator- if you have the rotten luck to fall into their circle and set up. Maybe it does not go on anymore in FOF, I do not know, but it was not OK what I saw happening in Oregon House in the FOF in the 90s and 2000’s. And I did not see anything, but we all knew what was going on. Those students who I house sat for seemed so rich, confident and sure of themselves to a young naive person from another country. They treated me fine. I remember being told at the time or sometime by some older student – “they can always say no, no one is ever forced to be with him” But its not as black or white as that- There is not that much to say about it really, but its similar to Epstein, just so sleazy.
Somebody besides Burton & the FoF finds the number 44 significant, saying it has Biblical meaning:
42. Nevasayneva
Interesting association between Epstein and Burton — I also watched the documentary about Epstein on Netflix and had the same thought.
The main reason why Epstein ended in jail and Burton didn’t is that Burton always made sure that his boys were not underage and he never exchanged money for sex in a transactional way like Epstein. Besides that it’s a very similar process in my opinion.
It appears that Robert Earl Burton may have had sex with a minor and paid hush money in an out of court settlement to keep the young man quiet
“First came the allegations that Robert Earl Burton had sexually abused young boys. One ex-member, Troy Buzbee, filed a lawsuit in 1996 alleging that Burton had brainwashed him and had propositioned him for sex while he was a minor.
Asking for $5 million in damages, Buzbee’s suit claimed that Burton had used the Fellowship to satisfy his “voracious appetite for perverted sexual pleasure and elegant lifestyle.” An earlier suit, filed by ex-member Sam Sanders in 1985, had made similar allegations. Both suits were settled out of court. (Burton did not publicly deny the charges at the time, though Fellowship lawyer Abraham Goldman had filed an anonymous lawsuit in Oakland federal court in 1995, apparently anticipating the Buzbee lawsuit. The suit complained of libel and defamation, including “‘gay bashing’ attacks,” against a plaintiff that seems clearly to have been Burton. Burton did not respond to a request for an interview.)”
Source: “The Lost Civilization of California Wine”, article in The San Francisco Chronicle, August 23, 2018
https://www.sfchronicle.com/wine/article/The-lost-civilization-of-California-wine-13174708.php
I looked back and found a post from Ames about the connection between Burton and Epstein (Page 168, Post 68, February 24, 2019):
Pale Rider, a Clint Eastwood film, has this scene, 4:46 long here, where his character, preacher/gunman, negotiates with Richard Dysart character, Coy LaHood, wealthy antagonist, over miners that are panning for gold. At ~4:30, Eastwood has the line: “How much is it worth to have a clear conscience?” This scene is epic.
I ask this same question of all and any current or former Fellowship of Friends members, and followers of Robert Earl Burton, that were/are/will be aware of the not-so-much behind the scenes, lately, real truth about this organisation.
How much is it worth to have a clear conscience?
Here is more on the film:
“The biblical theme is clear from the title, which refers to Revelation 6:8: ‘And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.’ The image is not meant literally. Eastwood’s character rides a pale horse, and for the evil ones, his arrival does augur death. But to his followers, a group of miners terrorized by a mining tycoon, he brings life. He is not death, but its conqueror.”
Stephen Chapman for
Chicago Tribune
July 7, 1985
(Unfortunately, in this youtube the audio and video are a bit out of sync.)
Revelation 6:8, KJV: “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”
How much is it worth to have a clear conscience?
There is a documentary made a couple months ago. It’s over 5 hours long, and all in Russian. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR1Pkz-LTR0.
Here is a Google-translated description of the documentary:
“In the last two broadcasts, Alexander Grinin told a stunned Spectator an amazing, amazing, incredible story about:
– a bunch of GIG-Lenin-Stalin-Hitler, and those who joined them Bokiya with Barchenko, about the Order of Lucifer, Shambhala tapes, and all that;
– the disgusting details of the unbridled, fraudulent life of the GIG top starter Gurdjieff;
– the senselessness of the faith of the conditional “man” in all gurus and happy recipes from them;
“In this, the third and the last, the author will end up feeling your hero of the GIG: he will gaze with his gaze at the strange life of the “black magician”, will show and tell by personal example whether the dancing sects named after Gurdjieff are useful, and will marvel at the goodness of his theory …”
At about 3:51:00, Grinin begins to discuss Robert Burton and the Fellowship of Friends. I asked a friend to summarize the key points made regarding Burton. Here is what my friend said:
“Mostly about brainwashing in FOF, predictions and teacher’s depravity with big amount of young boys and men with examples from Russian blog.
“3 castes in RB harem 1. Privileged loved wifes ) 2.Ordinary sex slaves with little privileges 3. Lower cast with no privileges that used for sex only, totally dependent from FOF.”
I believe for the second caste he meant to say, “Ordinary sex slaves with some privileges.”
How To Improve Your Status in the FOF Harem
Are you a young male follower who thinks he deserves that fresh new pair of Ferragamo shoes and all expense paid trip abroad, so others will be jealous of you instead?
Sick and tired of working those long grueling hours in the rain or hot sun during the day and then having to demean yourself at night for a few fleeting moments of physical pleasure…just to avoid being deported?
Want to experience what really goes on during those exclusive, all night wine cellar symposiums you’ve heard about?
You too can enjoy the exalted status of a royal FOF consort with all the privileges of the “chosen few” in Burton’s inner circle, if you take these time-tested steps:
-Leave your wife or girlfriend BEFORE Burton gets rid of her for you Remove any obstacle that might get in Burton’s way or whom might question why you are out so late, or better yet, don’t get involved with women at all no matter how many FOF women offer to have sex with you. Burton views women as competition and the evil source of “feminine dominance”. To him, women are like dolls who are to be adorned with tacky cameos and regarded simply as background “impressions”. Remember this is a guy who wouldn’t even attend his own mother’s funeral.
-Make known your wish to move to Apollo as soon as possible Although it may rock your world, one blowjob at an outlying center means nothing to him. Burton has a voracious sexual appetite for “new meat”, so your chances of getting in on the action after hours at Apollo are of course greatly improved by proximity. If you happen to be young and attractive enough, you may be given the opportunity to be trafficked to Apollo for free if you are also destitute and cannot afford the plane ticket, so have your passport up to date and ready. But once there you must be patient and stay put in order to prove your loyalty. Don’t be discouraged when you learn there are quite a number ahead of you. Mark your calendar and make sure you are always available on Valentine’s Day and Burton’s birthday.
-Smile demurely whenever among others, and say yes to everything you are asked to do, no matter how bizarre or inconsistent with your morals Your reputation for being compliant is crucial! Never show your teeth when smiling, tell jokes, or laugh out loud You will be tested for any inkling of “willfulness” by Burton’ and his sadistic pimps, so be prepared to dispense with your dignity, abandon all critical thinking, shovel camel dung, and max out your credit cards. After all, you can’t put a price on paradise and immense debt makes the heart grow fonder.
-Maintain personal hygiene, decorum, and always adhere to the FOF’s strict dress code Appearances are everything in the FOF, no matter how shallow. Only wear gold jewelry, even if it’s fake. Make sure your clothes are pressed and spotless, your shoes remain polished even when picking grapes or olives, brush your teeth often, and always chew food with your mouth closed. Never burp, fart, or hiccup in Burton’s presence and always leave at least half or more of the delicious food on your plate at the end of dinner, no matter how hungry you are.
-Volunteer to be a server at his dinners or events Once Burton has had a few glasses of wine your chances of eventually being on the menu increase exponentially. Keep silent, move slowly, and nod your head with a look of awe at everything Burton says. Hang around afterward and thank him profusely for the opportunity to be so subservient. He probably won’t remember your name, but he will remember that.
-Repeat and practice everything you have been told about what makes a “good student” It is imperative that you be regarded as a “good student” by others in the FOF hierarchy. Never ever criticize anything, unless you read it on the blog. See the “hand of higher forces” in anything that happens or that Burton does, regardless of how destructive, cruel or meaningless. That also means informing on others who break the rules, and most importantly, always talk about how lucky you feel for having joined.
-Memorize quotes of conscious beings The more pithy quotes you can rattle off, the more you will be able to cover for Burton’s dementia, and the more he will want you hovering around him outside his bedroom, especially when he is “teaching”. Never correct Burton if he says something stupid.
-Be on the look out to recruit others Once you get close to Burton, you will be expected not only to keep him informed of young males who recently joined the group, but actively seek and recruit naive, desperate, young males to whet his sexual appetite. You will be handsomely rewarded the more people you place in the pipeline of his rape factory.
Practice these helpful tips, and years later, when you are finally at the top of the heap, you will one day be asking yourself…“OMG, what kind of person have I become??”
49. WhaleRider
Nailed it.
Time to watch “Say No to the Princess”
Just say “No!” to the Queen of Hearts, Robert Earl Burton of the Fellowship of Friends.
51. Wonderful. But does Burton not refer to himself as a “goddess” rather than a “princess?” Or maybe he has used both at different times.
Chalk it up to creative license, Insider. It’s just a movie. But, I think overall, it’s very well done. I’ve been hoping for years that Mr. Moron would make another, but sometimes an artist will quit while they’re ahead and end their body of work on a high note. Regarding this subject, what more could one say? This little film says it all.
Last night I had a funny dream about the FOF.
In my dream I had on nice clothes and walked up the hill to the lodge. I remember feeling like I still had that special “status” which allowed me to do this without having paid my mandatory membership “donations”.
It was dark, near the end of dinnertime. There were only a few people around and nobody seem to recognize me. I went into the kitchen and asked the cook for a steak, even though I’m vegetarian. He told me there were none left only fish which he gave me instead. I sat by myself and ate. Unexpectedly, the cook showed up and offered me a steak, which I also finished off.
After dinner I went to another part of the lodge and there was a cigarette machine. Although I don’t smoke, I recall selecting a brand of menthol cigarettes
To my surprise, guess what brand of cigarettes popped out of the machine instead…
Camels.
I guess it’s true: you can never get enough of what you really don’t want.
WhaleRider, your dream and its conclusion, “I guess it’s true: you can never get enough of what you really don’t want.” brought to mind the “We sometimes crave what we are allergic to,” dietary syndrome. It’s thought that this happens because a food allergy or intolerance can cause stress and stimulate the production of endorphins, which may give a sense of comfort and wellbeing. Okay, this may be irrelevant, but I thought I’d give it a shot!
“When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.”
~The late Rep. John Lewis
“When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.” — Sheriff Richard Mack
Why would you block my posts that Mack was a Neo-Nazi. It’s readily available information. No balls?
#58
Hey Bruce- If you’re addressing that to me, I haven’t blocked any posts of yours…
58. brucelevy
” . . . Mack was a Neo-Nazi.” Ad hominem, a logical fallacy. You don’t debate or dispute the idea discussed; you attack the man who said it — and with slander.
Sheriff Mack achieved something few Americans are capable of: he won a Supreme Court case against an unconstitutional law, and as a consequence did every American a favor: further freedom from federal intrusion. Mack teaches about the U.S. Constitution under the CSPOA — County Sheriff Peace Officers Association.
You should take his course; you might learn something about what liberty means and what Americans’ inalienable rights are.
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2012/former-arizona-sheriff-richard-mack-seeks-%E2%80%98army%E2%80%99-sheriffs-resist-federal-authority
60. Joey Virgo
You’re a greasy little asshole. I invite everyone to google Sheriif mack. A Neo-Nazi cvnt. And it should inform most to the prick who calls himself Joey Virgo because he’s to much of a Cvnt to use his own name.
They’re left to sniff each other’s asshole.
61. 62. 63. 64. brucelevy
Blah-blah-blah-blah.
You quote the Southern Poverty Law Center — a pro-Zionist hate organization that seeks to destroy the U.S., behaves like the KGB, and labels anyone with a patriotic spirit by a vile smear. This is one of the most racist and subjective organizations ever to cheapen the lives of all Americans in the 21st century. It’s behavior is beneath contempt. Most liberty lovers know it’s just a hate group.
This organization’s judgment is like taking the views of the Bolsheviks seriously. As I say, it’s motives are Bolshevist, Zionist, and KGB like. It’s a parasite on America.
Your opinions are worth nothing, and are beyond the pale, worthy only of someone of your low breeding and inferior intelligence. Using a racist organization to prove someone is a racist or a “Neo-Nazi” is a joke.
And a Tweet is also not a source of reliable info. A pro-Obama Tweet is supposed to mean something? Well, you’re not very bright, so it may.
If you read any of Richard Mack’s books, you’d discover Mack truly dislikes Hitler and all he represents. He’s pro-American, not unlike the Founding Fathers, not pro Fuhrer. Mack is also a Mormon, which I’m sure the SPLC hates as well. Mack doesn’t hide his dislike of the man and thus couldn’t be someone you think or what the SPLC thinks. But you want to spout hate and negativity with fact-free hysteria.
Your free speech has not been prohibited, but it would be if the SPLC had its way. Better watch out. You don’t think you’re going to be spared when the culling happens, do you?
https://www.splcenter.org/
Cult Leader Finally Reveals Truth About Himself
Cleaning House, CA-After decades of claiming to be a “2000 year old goddess housed in a man’s body”, Robert Emo Burton, the elderly leader of a Northern California camel cult, has finally come out of the closet and recently disclosed to his feckless followers that in fact he is actually a “2000 year old homosexual man housed in the body of a sociopath”.
“That makes total sense”, said one follower who refused to give his name for fear of being deported. “I always wondered why he has sex with so many young straight men and dresses the way he does. No goddess would ever be caught dead wearing so much bling.”
“To me, the news was quite enlightening”, stated a female follower who wished to remain anonymous out of fear for the safety of her marriage and good-looking husband. “For a long time I secretly harbored doubts he really was a female goddess, because in mythology it was only the male gods who did all the raping.”
“It always bothered me that he didn’t seem to give a flying F Major how his actions hurt others”, another nameless follower added. “Now I can sleep in peace knowing the real reason he’s so heartless to others is only because he lacks a conscience.”
“It doesn’t matter to me who he says he is,” said one glassy-eyed snowflake. “I just like the way it feels to be close to him. He makes me feel so special, and I don’t have to jerk off as much anymore.”
As a result of the news, Q-Anon conspiracy followers are now promoting the crazy idea that Burton’s cult is really a front for the elitist group to harvest semenchrome from young male followers, a chemical compound secreted by the prostate gland when engaging in unwanted sex, and believed by Burton to create immortality in those whom swallow copious amounts…a practice Q-Anon followers claim has kept the 2000 year old homosexual cult leader alive for so long.
Cue up to 1:22:48.
Sound familiar?
66.
The Southern Poverty Law Group has nothing to do with poverty or with the South.
Southern Poverty Law Center Hate Group
https://www.cairco.org/reference/splc-southern-poverty-law-center-hate-group
Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Group
what are you about?
“…humans get a bigger ‘kick’ out of hate than they do satisfaction from acceptance or tolerance…”
http://www.personal.psu.edu/rlz2/blogs/thetranspersonalhumanist/2010/03/the-incivility-problem.html
#70 I took Blake’s quote to mean if someone damns you, you will find that bracing, if someone blesses you, you will find that relaxing, rather than a comment on the effect of negative emotions on the emoter.
The article has an amusing sentence where one typo and one simple grammatical blunder causes the meaning to swerve away dramatically:
“we are compelled to come to a troubling conclusion about the affect of talk ratio”
#72 perfect!
“We are the table . . .”
Cult Leader Calls Biden’s Hopeful, Pro-Empathy Speech Offensive to Narcissists
Haunted House, CA-Calling it “genuine and insulting,” cult leader Robert E Burton on Friday said that Joe Biden’s sincere, hopeful, pro-empathy speech at the Democratic National Convention was “deeply offensive” to the cult’s many narcissists and to the cult leader himself.
Blasting Biden’s incendiary pro-compassion rhetoric, Burton said that the roomful of sycophants with whom he watched the speech found it “alienating and divisive.”
“I was watching with my boys, and when Biden started in on the empathy stuff, we all felt very alone,” Burton stated. “He said that he wants to be a President for all Americans, but I guess that doesn’t include people like us. We have feelings, too, just not for others who disagree with what I do to my followers,” he said.
Calling Biden “a puppet of compassionate extremists and radical optimists,” he told his captive harem, “that’s why they call him, ‘Sleepy Joe’. He doesn’t realize that without an impending apocalypse hanging over everyone’s head, nobody could possibly become as self-centered as we have or accomplish anything worthwhile in the world, like our decaying vineyard or outdoor theatre blessed with so many building code violations.”
72, 73
“…let’s get it understood… we think just like you should.”
Another road to hell paved by idealistic folks with good intentions – sound familiar?
BREAKING NEWS:
Trump Campaign Sued by Cult Leader for Making False Statements
Washington House, CA-Early this morning a law suit was filed in Superior Court on behalf of a Northern Californian apocalyptic cult leader alleging fraud by the President’s Re-election Campaign for a claim made during the Republican National Convention on Monday night that President Donald Trump is “the defender of Western Civilization”, despite a tanking economy, widespread unemployment, the ongoing murder of black people by racist police, and a raging pandemic that has already killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, more than any other nation or several nations combined.
The suit alleges that Robert E Burton believes he is the only true and sole defender of Western Civilization, having spent most of his adult life collecting sycophants and Western artifacts such as oil paintings, cuff links, cameos, cuckoo clocks, fake antiques, and tacky European lawn statues at his follower’s expense in a selfish effort to preserve and promote the spread of Western Culture along with the herpes virus after a series of calamities and an apocalypse he first predicted would happen several years ago, yet unsurprisingly, has not.
Burton prophesied he and his adherents would miraculously survive an economic depression, a massive earthquake in California, and a devastating global nuclear holocaust for which his feckless followers are still awaiting, having been prepared for decades.
Interestingly, according to critics of the cult, so far Burton and his flock have only managed to dodge ethical scrutiny, the local building department, ICE, and a rather large property tax bill.
“Saying a person is the ‘defender of Western Civilization’ doesn’t mean they are,” stated a selfless follower, hoping to get noticed. “It’s obviously a lie, said to stroke Trump’s fragile and inflated ego, especially in light of his many failures and mental shortcomings that he and his faithful base refuse to acknowledge. If you ask me, that’s some pretty deep denial.”
“As far as I am allowed to see,” said another follower as they adjusted their pink silk blinders, “our teacher has not hurt anyone lately. Any follower who feels that financially and sexually exploiting others by a person like Trump who believes he is above the law ought to be discouraged in Western Culture, and unfortunately for some strange reason there have been followers in the past who apparently felt that behavior is wrong, they can leave by their own free will, if they have any left, or they are let go.There is no voting here.”
“Trump is defender of Western Civilization? How grandiose is that?” said another recently trafficked follower who will do or say anything for a green card. “That is just crazy. Those who think, even for one second, that our Great Leader Robert Burton is not the defender of Western Civilization like he says he is…well, they are just plain delusional.”
76
Whalerider, your clever similie is more than allusion – the party of trump is indeed a cult… those of us who have gone through the cult- mill via burtonism will recognize it immediately, along with the understanding of how difficult it can be to break the spell… that’s especially true in this case given the media megaphone trump has available to spread disinformation, er, ah, “alternative facts” – aka cult programming…. (It’s interesting this turn-of-phrase came from a person named Con – way). I’m thinking covid 19 is a material manifestation through a micro-organism, of Mother Nature’s metaphorical message representing, echoing the virulent mind-virus that is trumpism now infecting a sizable portion of the population.
Recommended new film: I Am Thinking Of Ending Things
Note: The title does not refer to suicidal tendencies.
The film is about the “dissonant symmetry of perception, memories, time, aging, relationships.” A bit dark but entirely unique. Not for everyone, but some of you may enjoy it. Note: The key character is not Lucy but Jake…
I enjoyed finding this discussion about the fellowship.
I myself have been in the inner circle of Robert Burton, and also experienced sexual relation with him.
It feels good reading such mature words about this exploiting manner that has been going on for such a long time now from Robert Burton.
Also I wanted to write to contribute processing these experiences, individually and collective!
Here are two helpful things I have come across on my long journey working through my experience with Robert Burton.
First I found it very interesting reading a post where Ouspensky himself says that there seems to be something missing in the system, that the true source has not been touched.
This is also what made me leave the FOF, for realizing real truth I find it a prerequisite of the heart to have wholesome and perfect guidance, without any missing part in the system.
This for me I have found in Yehuda Ashlag, who has revealed amazing helpful knowledge about false prophets and misleading mysticism.
„Know that all the sorcerers and cunning ones that ever were come only from such disclosures where immature disciples erred in the matters and went out to teach anyone they came across, without considering if they were fit for it. They went out and used the wisdom for human purposes—for lust and honor—and they have taken the sanctities of the Creator to secularism and to the street. This is what is called “practical Kabbalah.”
The Essence of Mystery and Its Departments
Below, I wish to give the reader a clear understanding of the prohibition to use practical Kabbalah, as well as witchcraft and various forms of prevalent esotericism, in order to provide a sound basis from which to extend scientific research.
In our time, many scholars have delved over this issue, exerting to lay a scientific, empirical basis under this matter. Indeed, they have given it much thought. To the best of my knowledge, they have not found any scientific basis that is worth consideration due to their lack of knowledge concerning the origin of this esotericism, which the human mind cannot reach.
What has brought me to touch upon this topic is that I saw the ignorance of the masses as far as discerning such matters, causing them to mix together various forms of esotericism. Therefore, I have now come to show the origin and foundation of this type of esotericism.
I have already explained how practical Kabbalists work not according to nature, since they have retreated to the lowly degrees where there are plentiful pleasantness and sweetness.
By this, their vital spirit significantly increases, such as you see among ordinary people whose strong will power activates the ones whose desire is weaker, forcing them to act as they wish, and without any thinking or understanding or any benefit for themselves, they follow and obey their every wish.
Similarly, when one who has attained exerts to attain high degrees that yield great vitality and spirit, they can activate this in their friends to a certain extent, as well.
It is so because the nature of the spiritual is as the nature of the fish at sea where the big swallows the small when it thinks of it. And here, only thought acts, and the rest is indeed not thought but desire and spirit, since a thought does not move even the thinker himself, so how will it move another?
Instead, the desire receives and is depicted according to the image of that thought of the one with the bigger desire and acts in the smaller one. Psychologists define it as “power of thought,” but it is a mistake – because it is a desire – and not a thought.
Also, know that this active power is so mighty that it can induce imaginations in one’s friend to the exact same extent that every person has the power to imagine in one’s own mind. And with regard to dominion, it is much more powerful than the one who imagines in one’s own mind. It is so because one who depicts by himself has the power of intellectual critique opposite the imagination. If it denies that imagination, that imagination is weakened and cannot work at all.
This is not so when one is activated by another. At that time, one is in a state of anarchy, without any work of one’s machine, called “the brain.” For this reason, there will never be any criticism, but the imagination he has obtained from the other works in him as though he had long ago agreed to it wholeheartedly, and above any criticism, as though it is a type of prejudice.
Moreover, one can clothe and suck the spirit of one’s friend inside until he feels his feelings—to an extent—and even his memories, and can contemplate them and determine which of them is desirable and notify him.
This is why it is written that they “deny the household of above,” for although only the foul ones have come to them, they remain and use them permanently, and intensify their vital spirit more than the true, genuine sages.“
(Kabbalist Yehuda Leib Ashlag, Baal HaSulam)
#79 Welcome Lucas. You say you spent time in Burton’s inner circle, and wish to process the experience. Sharing here may well help to put it in context and enable you to move on.
You share some ideas that you have found helpful from the Kabbalist tradition. That will possibly strike less of a chord here than if you tell us what you yourself have experienced and seen in your life.
How long ago was it that you left the FoF? (just curious no need to reply if you don’t want to, of course)
I found that Google Earth keeps the images from previous years, including such critical years for Burton’s prophetical arc as 1998 and 2006. Bill Withers provides the soundtrack:
79. Lucas, September 14 ~ Thank you for contributing to the discussion. There are many seekers that will leave one teacher for another. This fragment from Yehuda Ashlag’s discussion of false prophets, “…strong will power activates the ones whose desire is weaker, forcing them to act as they wish, and without any thinking or understanding or any benefit for themselves, they follow and obey their every wish.” are just one of many in the text you posted that could be describing the unhealthy dominance of Robert Burton, a grand manipulator. Your selection is astute.
Did you follow Burton’s directive to not read the Fellowship of Friends Discussion? Or, were you aware of this discussion and sometimes read it while a still a student?
81. John Harmer, September 15 ~ Thank you for the compilation of Goole Earth images. Beautiful song! Was the building with the long brown roof that you zoomed towards at the end of the video an outbuilding for animals, agricultural tools or the winery?
After viewing the video I found myself thinking that maybe Burton’s 44+ angels are just expressions of a multiple personality disorder and that Louis XIV must be one of them. These aerial views of Apollo, or whatever it is called these days, are uncannily reminiscent of Versailles!
#82 Golden Veil, the last time I visited was in the mid 1980s, so I am not sure what the various structures are. From my memories I thought that building might have been where I remembered the Lincoln Lodge to have been, but I’m not sure.
I certainly agree about Louis XIV. In the weird book “50 years with Angels”, Burton tells how he visited a grand estate as a young person, and was entirely enthralled by the wonders of a palatial existence. His efforts to realise his dream show a debt to Disneyland as much as to Versailles I think.
83. John Harmer, September 17
Yes, that book! Perusing that one, I can see why some contributors here have compared Burton’s narcissism to that of Trump. It’s always a Me, Me, Me show with Robert Earl Burton, too!
On page 15 of Fifty Years with Angels: September 5, 1967 – September 5, 2017 by Robert Earl Burton and Judith Grace, published in 2017 by In Wonderland Press, Burton claims that his “crystallization” was actually a “bicentennial gift to the nation” [in Robert Burton lore it happened in 1976], but that it would “never be understood” and so he would just “pass it on” to his followers.
He goes on to say that on the night of his crystallization he “went to bed a mortal” and then “woke up an immortal” which may be interpreted as to mean that Burton believes he woke up a God. He adds, “Now you are all present and on the same track.” and that “It is such good news.” Pithy but innocuous sound bites, very much like Trump.
Still, I forgive him and I forgive myself for doing that what happened
It’s the only way to go on
83. John Harmer
That building has had many uses: a hair salon; a gift shop; the bakery owned by Frances Barrett; the restaurant La Cucina, before it burned down. Now it’s the Fellowship offices. Slightly “above” that building are/were the tennis courts.
#86 thanks Insider
85. Lucas, September 18 ~
Thank you.
You inspired me to make a search online regarding forgiveness and this came up first. It delves into details of what you have so perfectly expressed here in a few words.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/forgiveness
86. Insider, September 18 ~
Thanks for the details. I seem to recall the Lincoln Lodge looking out towards water from a deck or patio.
Deleted at the request of the writer
Cult leader who claims to be reincarnation of Jesus arrested in Russia
Former traffic officer Sergei Torop, AKA Vissarion, arrested in special operation in Siberia
Shaun Walker in Moscow
Tue 22 Sep 2020 10.50 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/22/cult-leader-vissarion-reincarnation-jesus-arrested-siberia-russia
People of Praise: Former Member of Group Tied to
SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States)
Front-Runner Amy Barrett Calls It a “Cult.”
Democracy Now! Story September 23, 2020
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/9/23/coral_anika_theill_people_of_praise
Robert Earl Burton enablers: You are on notice:
92. Associated Press
It’s easy to enable when it’s your family’s money and not your own.
If any of the enablers have an iota of a conscience remaining, and want to take a big step towards mending their Karma, including perhaps suffering some consequences themselves of supporting Burton’s criminal enterprise for so many years and decades, most of them don’t have much time left.
Here are a few of Burton’s chief enablers, i.e. those who know exactly what is going on (sex trafficking, tax evasion, and all the other crimes) and are actively engaged in covering it up, along with their current age:
Lynne S@nd3rs – 60
Alan Schw@rtzb3rg – 65 (Board member)
Steven D@mb3ck – 65
Rowena T@ylor – 65
Alisanne Fr3w – 65
Brian Fl*nn – 65
Judith Gr@ce – 66
Wayne M0tt – 68 (Board member)
Jeanne Ch@pm@n – 68
Edith Minn3 – 68
Gerald P@nn3ll – 69
Philippe B@ss@t – 69
Gregg H0lm@n – 70 (Board member)
Daniel H1ghl@nd – 70
Diana Kay E@t0n – 70
Linda K@pl@n – 71
Nick Sp@uld1ng – 73
Marcus L@sk3n – 73
Ethan H@rr1s – 74 (Board member)
Girard H@v3n – 75
Benjamin Y^d1n – 75
Karen J0hnst0n – 76
Guinevere (Helga) M^3ll3r – 81
(Robert Earl Burton – 81)
I believe Philippe B@ss@t left the organisation some time ago.
95. 44thWay
He did, to start something on his own, but then returned.
I don’t know about him, but it’s hard to leave the ocean of friends in the Fellowship — a mile wide, but only an inch deep.
A certain local individual, Stephan B (not a former Fellowship member), is offering a four-week course on the topic, “How Teachers Go Astray.” (No, I will not be attending.) His introductory remarks caught my attention, as they pertain so directly and accurately to Robert Burton:
“Over the years Stephan has worked with many people who have reported being exploited or betrayed by their teacher, and has written extensively about the issue, including a recent article outlining what he considers the basic principles of teacher integrity.
“Among these principles: the teacher doesn’t need anything from you, including your love, admiration, veneration, power, or money; the teacher does not require your loyalty or allegiance to anything but the truth of your being as you understand it; the teacher’s primary purpose is to further your spiritual unfolding, not to build her organization or expand her popularity on social media; and the teacher does not attempt to organize, orchestrate, or control your personal life and does not purport to know what’s best for you on a personal level.”
Obviously, Burton fails miserably on all these counts.
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/27/928371831/nxivm-cult-leader-sentenced-to-120-years-in-prison
NXIVM guru gets 120 years in prison in sex-slaves case
NEW YORK (AP) — Disgraced self-improvement guru Keith Raniere, whose NXIVM followers included millionaires and Hollywood actors, was sentenced to 120 years on Tuesday for turning some adherents into sex slaves branded with his initials and sexually abusing a 15-year-old.
U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis called Raniere “ruthless and unyielding” in crimes that were “particularly egregious” because he targeted girls and young women in the sex-trafficking conspiracy that resulted in Raniere’s conviction last year.
He handed down the unusually stiff sentence in Brooklyn federal court after hearing 15 victims call for a long prison term to reflect the nightmares and anguish they’ll confront the rest of their lives.
As he announced the sentence, Garaufis noted that Raniere labeled some of the victims’ claims lies. The judge told a woman who Raniere ordered to be kept in a room for two years when she was 18: “What happened to you is not your fault.” He said that went for the other victims too.
Raniere, who looked at victims as they spoke in the courtroom, maintained his defiant tone, although he said he was “truly sorry” that his organization led to a place where “there is so much anger and so much pain.”
“I do believe I am innocent of the charges. … It is true I am not remorseful of the crimes I do not believe I committed at all,” Raniere said.
More at:
https://apnews.com/article/keith-raniere-nxivm-120-years-prison-bfb00a8c6660b35e169b60d9a0b275ff
NXIVM Founder Keith Raniere Sentenced to 120 Years in Prison
“Raniere was convicted on charges including racketeering, alien smuggling, sex trafficking, extortion and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors said Raniere led what amounted to a criminal enterprise, inducing shame and guilt to influence and control co-conspirators who helped recruit and groom his sexual partners. They said that among other crimes, Raniere began a sexual relationship in 2005 with a 15-year-old girl. The woman, identified as ‘Camila’, told the hearing she once had an abortion “at his direction”.
Anyone else immediately recognize the host of similarities between this case and the sordid case of the Fellowship of Friends? For example, substitute ‘Burton’ for Raniere, and ‘Camila’ for the underage Troy Buzbee. And what about the numerous other members of the FoF who had abortions “at his direction”?
The racketeering, alien smuggling, sex trafficking. Sound familiar? What is obtaining fake passports from the Italian mafia so Burton’s latest ‘rewards from C–Influence’ can travel to his bed, if not an aspect of alien smuggling? What is going to Russia, Romania and other east European countries to ‘test out good looking candidates and measuring their endowments and reporting back to HQ, and then using the funds of a non–profit to buy them tickets to Burton’s bed, if not sex trafficking? What is having two sets of books, one for the IRS and the other for internal use, if not racketeering? What is hiring goons to threaten witnesses, wiretapping, and so on, if not obstruction of justice? What is the grooming of new fresh meat by those who have already been sexually and psychologically abused if not using shame and guilt to extend the chain of pain?
Insider (#94, above), that’s pretty sad. Not just this list of those who have led full–time careers as enablers and pimps (per the Nxivm guru Keith Raniere references above), but also the sheer quantity of life force, decade after decade after decade spent pursuing “consciousness” according to the whims and dictates of someone who supposedly became “conscious” in only 18 months! And supposedly had at his disposal all the tools necessary for others to do the same. What was the timeframe they thought they were signing up for? A couple of years if they were optimists? Maybe a decade if they were pessimists? But twenty, thirty, forty years, and they haven’t suspected that their ‘teacher’ does not know how to teach? That if he is a teacher, he is one of the most ineffective ever? Not suspected that in actual fact he is a fraud and a narcissist and a liar who is only convincing because he fully believes his delusions and carries his followers along with him in his fantasy?
The youngest on your sorry list, Sanders, has been a member since 10/92. 28 years and counting!
The oldest, Mueller, heading up the straight towards her due reward, will have been brown–nosing 50 years this coming January 2021, and just a nose length behind, is Kaplan, 50 years in April!
But they are happy and content, so let’s leave them to their joy, secure in the knowledge that Burton has revealed; they are not only ‘saved’, but immortal to boot. Myself, I prefer to stick to knowledge that I have gained through experience and verified for myself, miniscule though that that may be compared to the vastness of what Burton proclaims.
Thank you, Insider, for reminding us of this very important, galaxy–shaking event (#32, above). For some reason, it did not make it onto my calendar…
Burton seems to have a gift for arranging spectacle, and his followers often mistake novelty, expectations of novelty, or the unexpected, as some local (and always temporary) increase in ‘consciousness’. Myself, I call it, ‘triggering hyper–vigilance for a short while’, and this becomes a learned, automatic reaction. I say this because it is almost inevitably accompanied by lots of mental activity in the form of explanations and justifications, or external expressions of awe and wonder at the followers’ good fortune to be connected to the ‘avatar of the age’. Let the addictive dopamine and oxytocin molecules flow like a river! And after the inevitable crash that comes with withdrawal, accompanying the self–doubt and self–blame for not being able to maintain the induced ‘high’, there is the looking to Burton for yet another fix, further strengthening the dependency on him.
Over the years, the spectacles have become more and more grandiose, and now, in his dotage, there is no pomp or circumstance too extreme for Burton. These are phrases from a delirium: “One reason that He is visiting us is because the first angel visited us and we are at the end of the sequence of civilizations. We are the thirty-third expression of schools in different galaxies”. WTF?
Words like these should send sentient beings screaming for the exits. But, True Followers™ accept them either at face value, or immediately set to work, rationalizing and normalizing them to suit their imaginary picture of themselves and their special relationship to ‘higher consciousness’ and ‘spiritual evolution’.
True Followers™ also suffer from the ‘sunk costs’ fallacy—”We’ve invested so much; the only way forward is to keep on investing. Whatever it takes—our money, our obedience, our bodies, our honor, our sanity, our lives—otherwise we lose all we have invested so far. And who knows, maybe Burton is right, and his ‘beyond–crazy wisdom’ is indeed the magic key, the key to some miraculous breakthrough, and of course, immortality after that. Surely, any price is worth such a prize!”
Followers of Asaf Braverman and his BePeriod scam are on the same path. Different words, same tune. Asaf has, despite living luxuriously off the efforts and money of others his entire life, first with his wealthy family, then the Fellowship of Friends, and now BePeriod, has somehow suffered so greatly in the process (by his account) that he has ‘broken through’ and, like Burton, now only kindly sticks around to dispense his insights and wisdom to a lucky few. Such altruism! And likewise, the more his followers invest, the more bound they become to Asaf’s fantasy, and the more reluctant they will be to recognize it is a bad investment. That would mean abandoning the energy and money they have put into the fantasy, and declaring it pretty much of a loss (though valuable lessons may be learned, just not the ones Asaf advertises).
There used to be a fellow going by the name “Ruddery” who posted here. I knew him in Chicago and then later in California. He married Sandra B. I was checking out his Facebook page a few days ago and it had some things about “a celebration of his life.” That usually means that the person has died. Anybody know what happend to him?
102. amesgilbert1 ~ October 28, 2020
It is strange, to live such a lie. These aging “students” bought into a lifelong fantasy. Each moment, they close their eyes and ears and with intention, ignore great ugliness and criminality. What regret and shame they must feel for their squandered lives…
101. amesgilbert1
“What is obtaining fake passports from the Italian mafia so Burton’s latest ‘rewards from C–Influence’ can travel to his bed, if not an aspect of alien smuggling?”
In the past 1-2 years, one of the two Russian boys, the recipients of the fake passports, tried to re-enter the US. Ten years had passed, and he thought he would be allowed in. Nope. He was caught at the airport and promptly sent back to the UK where he was living.
Anyway, he was probably too old for Burton’s taste.
And still Burton and Judith Gr@ce walk free.
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